***NO SPOILERS FOR BLACK PANTHER, BUT SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS MCU MOVIES, ESPECIALLY CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, ABOUND HEREIN. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.***
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| This king stands poised to change the world. |
Though we've seen allusions to Wakanda pop in and out of previous Marvel movies, most notably in Age of Ultron when we first met Afrikaner arms dealer and vibranium thief Ulysses Klaue, it was in Civil War where we first got ourselves a hint of the magnificence Black Panther's homeland had to offer. A hint, or two, but nothing more than that, except maybe in the post-credits scene where we got to see Bucky Barnes go into cryo-sleep in a secret Wakandan lab. Other than that, there's no sign of just how advanced Wakanda is, blessed by the cosmos as it was when a vibranium meteorite impacted there hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. Blessed...to a point. As outlined in the movie's very first sequence, Wakanda's several tribes fought over possession of the vibranium until one warrior set out from the rest of the pack and, aided by a purple heart-shaped herb that enhanced his strength and agility, took leadership as the first Black Panther. Most of the tribes, save one, united with him and formed the Wakanda we know today - highly advanced and prosperous, but also hiding itself from the rest of the world for fear that outsiders, were they to know the truth, would come in and exploit Wakanda just as was done to the rest of Africa and other parts of the world.
It's this precise combination of fear and pride that shapes much of the movie thematically. Though Wakanda was never colonized by any Western powers, for many years the leadership has insisted on maintaining strict isolation. That isolation is already starting to break down as the movie begins proper, only a week after the explosion that killed T'Chaka in Civil War and left T'Challa to take his father's place as ruler.
Of course, it's not that simple, and while Civil War sets us up to think that T'Challa just gets the power as part of a familial dynasty, there's a lot more to it that's been saved for this movie. The aforementioned heart-shaped herb, for one thing - which makes it clear that as badass as T'Challa was the first time we saw him, he wasn't even at full potential. Not to mention how, at his coronation, he must stand before relatives and representatives of the other tribes and accept challenges of ritual combat from any who offers one. Only one does - M'Baku, leader of the mountain tribe which broke away from the rest of Wakanda and pretty much only comes down from their own isolation just to throw a wrench in what could otherwise have been a pretty smooth ceremony unanimously approved by all else in attendance. M'Baku and T'Challa fight in a very small pool of water perched at the edge of a waterfall, halfway up the walls of a massive canyon. Here, Coogler brings his experience directing Creed to the table - a fight scene in a pretty spacious area with numerous spectators, but the actual space for the fight is confined and dangerous. It certainly helps that the two men's respective guards keep narrowing a semicircle around them, their spears pointed in the whole time. But again, M'Baku is here more for disruption than anything else, to give the movie a chance to showcase some of its greatest strengths. Not only action, but natural beauty in all the ways.
It's only later, of course, that T'Challa gets a more serious threat to face. Not so much Klaue, who spends his time in the movie having a ball and hamming it up like he's some kind of big-name mogul. (He's actually pretty funny most of the time, at least until he starts saying some pretty racist stuff against the Wakandans and then nobody's laughing.) No, the real villain of this piece is Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger, who's got a surprising connection to Wakanda all his own but otherwise lives like an American. Without getting into spoilers, let's just say that he's one of the best villains in the MCU not only on the strength of Michael B. Jordan's kickass performance (when isn't he kickass, though?), but also because of his sympathetic backstory, rooted in an incident that took place when he was a boy in Oakland in 1992. (It's a very nice touch on Coogler's part, going back to his own Oakland roots.) And because (even though I'm not at all sure he means it) he talks a good game about changing the world and improving the lives of the downtrodden.
That's the biggest theme of the movie by far - a sort of "with great power comes great responsibility" but for entire nations. Wakanda, though prosperous, is secretly flawed, with a history of its most powerful men making some pretty terrible decisions for the good of the kingdom. Just like when Taika Waititi, as a Maori, filtered Thor: Ragnarok through a strong anti-imperialist lens and added quite a bit of Aboriginal-pride imagery, Black Panther showcases the continuing repercussions of colonialism and teaches that maybe the right solution isn't to add to a perpetual cycle of war, but to break down walls and pursue an agenda in favor of the collective, not the individual, greater good. Further underlining these themes are the differences in reactions to Killmonger between the men and women of Wakanda in general. Many of the men in T'Challa's inner circle have a way of cleaving to tradition at all costs. T'Challa's closest women advisers, however, tend to challenge tradition, are more loyal and dependable, and also prove to be dynamic, outside-the-box thinkers. None more so than Shuri, of course. Letitia Wright, as T'Challa's sharp-witted, whip-smart sister, carries more scenes than almost anyone else who's come before her in the MCU. She needs to meet her fellow MCU genii yesterday - Stark, Banner, FitzSimmons, and of course Daisy Freaking Johnson would all love to work with her, and she could help them all save the world in two seconds flat.
About the only flaws I can spot in this movie are really small ones - a bit of an overlength problem, but no more so than a lot of previous two-and-a-half-hour MCU tours, and also how some pieces of CGI (like a climactic fight sequence on the maglev train tracks in Wakanda's main vibranium mine) look a bit unfinished. Other than that, however, Black Panther has no problem securing its status as Marvel's latest A-grade masterpiece, thematically resonant and crafted with painstaking attention to detail. That attention will come in handy for further Black Panther films, and especially if and when Marvel commissions someone to write some damn good fantasy novels that allow us to really explore all of Wakanda.
Till next time, Pinecones...
It's only later, of course, that T'Challa gets a more serious threat to face. Not so much Klaue, who spends his time in the movie having a ball and hamming it up like he's some kind of big-name mogul. (He's actually pretty funny most of the time, at least until he starts saying some pretty racist stuff against the Wakandans and then nobody's laughing.) No, the real villain of this piece is Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger, who's got a surprising connection to Wakanda all his own but otherwise lives like an American. Without getting into spoilers, let's just say that he's one of the best villains in the MCU not only on the strength of Michael B. Jordan's kickass performance (when isn't he kickass, though?), but also because of his sympathetic backstory, rooted in an incident that took place when he was a boy in Oakland in 1992. (It's a very nice touch on Coogler's part, going back to his own Oakland roots.) And because (even though I'm not at all sure he means it) he talks a good game about changing the world and improving the lives of the downtrodden.
That's the biggest theme of the movie by far - a sort of "with great power comes great responsibility" but for entire nations. Wakanda, though prosperous, is secretly flawed, with a history of its most powerful men making some pretty terrible decisions for the good of the kingdom. Just like when Taika Waititi, as a Maori, filtered Thor: Ragnarok through a strong anti-imperialist lens and added quite a bit of Aboriginal-pride imagery, Black Panther showcases the continuing repercussions of colonialism and teaches that maybe the right solution isn't to add to a perpetual cycle of war, but to break down walls and pursue an agenda in favor of the collective, not the individual, greater good. Further underlining these themes are the differences in reactions to Killmonger between the men and women of Wakanda in general. Many of the men in T'Challa's inner circle have a way of cleaving to tradition at all costs. T'Challa's closest women advisers, however, tend to challenge tradition, are more loyal and dependable, and also prove to be dynamic, outside-the-box thinkers. None more so than Shuri, of course. Letitia Wright, as T'Challa's sharp-witted, whip-smart sister, carries more scenes than almost anyone else who's come before her in the MCU. She needs to meet her fellow MCU genii yesterday - Stark, Banner, FitzSimmons, and of course Daisy Freaking Johnson would all love to work with her, and she could help them all save the world in two seconds flat.
About the only flaws I can spot in this movie are really small ones - a bit of an overlength problem, but no more so than a lot of previous two-and-a-half-hour MCU tours, and also how some pieces of CGI (like a climactic fight sequence on the maglev train tracks in Wakanda's main vibranium mine) look a bit unfinished. Other than that, however, Black Panther has no problem securing its status as Marvel's latest A-grade masterpiece, thematically resonant and crafted with painstaking attention to detail. That attention will come in handy for further Black Panther films, and especially if and when Marvel commissions someone to write some damn good fantasy novels that allow us to really explore all of Wakanda.
Till next time, Pinecones...
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| #FeedTheRightWolf |
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| Remember: Denis Leary is always watching. Always. |
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